Varsity row over ’singling out’ northeastern students resolved

A row over an alleged attempt by the University of Hyderabad to single out students from the northeast in its drive against drinking and drug use on campus was resolved with the students expressing satisfaction over the vice chancellor’s apology for the “inadvertent” move.

While university officials rubbished the allegations of “racial profiling”, the student community from northeast says the issue is now closed for them.

The students had Friday staged a protest against an alleged email sent by Vice Chancellor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy to faculty members from northeast on consumption of alcohol by northeastern students.

An official told that it is a common practice to use the services of faculty to mentor the students. “Because two students from northeast were caught consuming liquor during last few days,” he said when asked why students from a particular region were singled out.

“The issue was blown out of proportion by some vested interests,” he said.

About 200 students from the northeast had Friday taken out a march on the campus.

The vice chancellor later issued a statement expressing regret if he had hurt the sentiments of any group of students.

“As far as we are concerned the issue is closed. We are satisfied with the vice chancellor’s clarification that his move was unintentional,” a student from Nagaland told.

Another student said since consumption of liquor was common among all students, it was not proper to single out only students from the northeast. “Some of us take liquor to overcome the stress but nobody uses drugs. There should be no discrimination towards any region while dealing with a problem,” the student, also from Nagaland, said.